There’s a certain sense of comfort when we use the word home. It conjures up a place where we feel cosseted and secure. A house or flat may be where you live, but home means something more – a sanctuary where we’re happy and able to recharge.
For many of us, though, a place of sanctuary is not where we’re waking up at the moment. Rising house prices and rents mean that many of us are living in small spaces with limited opportunities to adapt them to suit our needs.
A person living in England typically needs to spend nearly eight times their salary to buy a property. At the same time, we’re getting less for our money. When the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) network looked at the average size of UK houses built in every decade since the 1930s, it found that having grown in size, properties are now almost back to where they started, with the average living room built in the 2010s shrinking to 17.09 sq metres. Only a 1930s house was smaller.
Yet since the pandemic struck, we have expected more of our living spaces than ever before – they’ve become offices, schools and gyms as well as places to chill and recharge. It’s little surprise that, as lockdown went on, many of us began to crave a place that wasn’t strewn with toys and school worksheets; a desk that wasn’t an ironing board jammed in next to a bed; the smallest patch of garden.
Some people seized the initiative and did something about it. In a worldwide survey for IKEA, 60% of people said they’d had to change the way their home was organised as a result of pandemic pressures, and almost half of those felt more positive about their homes as a result. IKEA’s Life at Home report 2021 also found that when we feel good about our homes we feel better about ourselves, with 40% of respondents saying feeling positive improved their mental health.
Yet when it comes to our own places, familiarity often stops us being able to pinpoint exactly why we are unhappy with things. Is the sofa in the right place, and what about the wardrobe or chest of drawers? While we’d get a broken window pane fixed quickly, a stiff lock on the bathroom door is easy to overlook, even though it will bug you – subconsciously – several times a day.
This year we could again find ourselves spending quite a lot of time at home, not just because of Covid but because rising food and utilities prices could leave us with less cash for fun spending. If we’re going to be at home more, it could be time to think about making it the place we want it to be – a sanctuary that envelops us in a cosy hug.
Having noted the link between living spaces and mental health, IKEA identified three “pillars of sanctuary” that can help transform a property into a home. “Our vision is based on creating a better everyday life for many people,” says Marie Tenglund, IKEA’s UK interior design leader. “We believe function and good design are the key to improving any living space in your home.”
The first and most basic pillar is function. Is a room fit for purpose? Making an assessment of the space is the first step. What works and what doesn’t? Are you always woken in the morning by light streaming through too thin blinds, for instance? If you swap them for blackout curtains (IKEA’s range starts at £10) or change the position of your bed, you’ll sleep better and life should feel better as you’ve eliminated a source of discomfort.
When you work from home, do you have a proper set-up that will prevent you ending up with a strained back? If not, look at adjustable stands for your computer or, if space is at a premium, at desks that fold from the wall. That’s another niggle ticked off the list.
Talking of niggles, it’s easy to overlook lots of small jobs around the house, like adding lubricant to that stiff bathroom lock, but they’re worth making time for. Spend 10 minutes sorting out the lock and you’ll avoid a small spike of irritation several times every day.
This brings us to emotional stability – the second pillar when it comes to creating a sanctuary – by which IKEA means that homes should induce calm, not make us feel ill at ease. A home you love can help protect your mental wellbeing, IKEA’s report found, so adapting our spaces to fit our new lives is a win in every sense.
One major cause of stress can be having too many belongings and the clutter they cause. IKEA’s survey found that, for 27% of people, having a home that was easy to clean and keep clutter-free was more important than 12 months earlier.
Clutter is at least within your control. Are you able to set aside time to clear some of it and organise the rest? Look out for clever furniture solutions that can help. Make the most of the vertical space in your room, for instance, with furniture that extends upwards. Also consider pieces that do dual duty: a seat that can function as a trunk or toybox is great for tucking away belongings when they’re not in use.
Turning your home into a sanctuary isn’t just about eliminating negatives, it’s also about bringing in joy. Think about doing things that will lift your spirits – from framing a picture you love to buying the coffee maker you’ve always wanted.
IKEA’s third pillar of sanctuary is space, which is the trickiest one for many of us – in the 2021 survey, 28% of people said a sense of spaciousness had increased in importance during the pandemic. Even if your home is small, a sense of space can be achieved by looking out for clever design ideas.
Tenglund has solutions at her fingertips: “At IKEA we talk a lot about small space living, making the most of the space you have, but maybe it is more appropriate to describe it as smart space living. How can we be smart with the space we have available? How about thinking high, using floor-to-wall space – with a step stool close by to make it easy to reach the items on the top shelf. Think foldable, movable and multifunctional when choosing your furniture to be as flexible and economical with your floor space as possible.”
How a room is arranged can have a huge impact too. Having clear routes through can make a world of difference. If you open a door and take two steps before you hit the sofa or need to move a chair to get to a bookcase, a rethink is on the cards. Replanning the layout of your room is a great starting point. You can do this with paper and scissors, creating a scale model of your room and its contents, or you can use an online tool.
As Tenglund mentions, don’t forget about making the best use of the walls and the backs of doors. Something as simple as an overdoor hanger can free up space and clear away stuff that’s been languishing on the floor or the backs of chairs.
So even small changes can bring big rewards, and the sense of achievement you’ll feel when you’ve made your home your own can be elating.
Discover more clever and imaginative ways to make sure your living space is your sanctuary at IKEA.com
